Mining News South Africa’s mining sector up 5.2% in November on strong PGMs and iron ore production – report

According to Statistics South Africa, the domestic mining production increased by 5.2% year-on-year in November 2021.

The largest positive contributors were platinum group metals (up 38.1%, contributing 7.7 percentage points) and iron ore (up 9.3%, contributing 0.8 of a percentage point).

On the contrary, coal (-7.9%, contributing -2.2 percentage points) was a significant negative contributor.

However, seasonally adjusted mining production in South Africa decreased by 2.2% in November 2021 compared with October 2021. This followed month-on-month changes of 3.1% in October 2021 and -4.4% in September 2021.

Mineral sales at current prices increased by 22.2% year-on-year in November 2021, which is mainly attributable to platinum group metals (up 34.4%, contributing 12.0 percentage points), gold (up 59.7%, contributing 7.1 percentage points), and coal (up 29.7%, contributing 5.6 percentage points).

Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices increased by 7.5% in November 2021 compared with October 2021. This followed month-on-month changes of 12.3% in October 2021 and -24.1% in September 2021.